Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research

The mission of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research in Linz / Austria is to archive, publish and perform scholarly work on media art and related media theory including the extensive holdings of the Ars Electronica Archive. Scientific, artistic, technological and cultural mediation activities are designed to enhance the process of encountering our social surroundings in which media play a decisive role.

Ludwig Boltzmann Society, University of Art and Industrial Design Linz, Ars Electronica Center and Lentos Museum of Art Linz constitute the partner consortium of the new Institute.

As an approach to linking scholarly research to its application in actual practice, the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research has established three main lines of research dealing with the following core issues:

Media Art History and Media Theory

Media AAt the top of the institute’s agenda is working out new standards for the categorization, description and analysis of digital and media art within the broad context of art history and thereby making possible a new approach to media analysis. The combination of media archeology and meticulous analysis will be relevant to both practitioners and theoreticians.

Content Management Design

The institute will evaluate methods and instruments of content management with respect to their usability for art history research, and develop content management solutions designed to efficiently categorize, manage, provide access to and distribute various media content.

Tool Design

The institute will go about the task of coming up with innovative computer-supported tools in order to enhance the basic methods currently being used in the fields of art history and cultural studies. These tools for use in integrated computer-based and network-based working environments are designed to combine research, mediation and documentation functions in intelligent data systems in order to upgrade conventional research environments and presentation capabilities.